Why Peru?

Erin and I are heading to Peru for most of the month of November. We leave on November 1st.

It's been our dream for a few years to have a big adventure together...the type of adventure we'd pull out the photo album to show friends and family for years to come...the type of adventure we might only be able to have before we have kids...the type of adventure we have to get immunizations for.

So why Peru? The adventure started out being a round-the-world trip where we could stop and see our friends living around the world in different places. That trip would have focused on Asia and Europe. We couldn't seem to line up all of the things that needed to be lined up to do a trip like that so we started looking at European river cruises.

I had backpacked around western Europe for awhile after college with David. While we had a great time on our trip, we both agreed at the time that it would be better to be in Paris with your loved one than with a friend. A cruise would have taken us through central Europe with stops in towns a tourist would only get to on a cruise. But, long before the current economic crisis, we realized that this trip would drain our money fast.

Want to go somewhere for a long period of time for cheap? Did someone say South America?

We started focusing on South America. We both speak some Spanish and the thought of brushing up on our Spanish excited us. After looking at Costa Rica (we've already been to tropical places and we live in San Diego anyway) and Buenos Aires (we could have combined language school with tango lessons! (I learned last night from someone who spent a considerable amount of time in Argentina that tango is more about emotion than dancing - I could probably use help in both areas!) ) we stumbled on Peru.

What's the opposite of tropical? How about 11,000 feet of elevation?! I'm sitting in Denver right now at half that elevation sucking air. Seriously, I try to plan my movements in my parents house to minimize the number of times I have to climb stairs in their tri-level house.

So we'll be in Cuzco (or Cusco if you're a gringo) going to language school, doing some traveling around the area, and just hanging out. Ever since my whirlwind European backpack tour I've wanted to spend an extended time in one area...getting past the tourist areas and maybe seeing what the locals do. People who travel say that's what you should do. I wonder where we buy tickets to have "lunch-with-a-local"?

We'll also be visiting Machu Picchu (pictured above). We hope to add some more stops in Peru but we'll figure that out when we get there. That seems like a good adventure.